Record Setting St. Ignace Wrestlers Honored During Awards Ceremony
Marshall, Garries, Robinson Compete at Individual Finals
By David Latva

The St. Ignace Saints wrestlers who received season-ending awards, pictured with their coaches, (front, from left) include Head Coach Harvey Bentley, Rob Robinson, Tyler Oja, Steffan Saffian, Brandon Garries, Assistant Coach Chris Marshall; (back) Michael Foster, Derek Marshall, John Evashevski, Eric Brown, Mike McNeely, and Andy Tamlyn. (Photograph courtesy of LaSalle Yearbook)

The St. Ignace Saints wrestling team was honored during the annual awards banquet at LaSalle High School Wednesday, March 12, recapping history-setting highlights during the season.

Coach Harvey Bentley and his Saints wrestlers established a new school record with 30 dual match victories during the 2007-08 season, breaking the previous mark of 29, set during the 2003-04 season.

The trio of Derek Marshall, Brandon Garries, and Rob Robinson became the first St. Ignace wrestlers to qualify for the state individual finals that will be held at Palace of Auburn Hills this year, after finishing in the top four during the regionals at Rogers City

Marshall and Garries completed their high school careers with a 1-2 record at the finals. Robinson, who went 0-2 at the finals, will return for his senior season for another shot at the finals.

"Derek led by example and worked himself into an outstanding season that included reaching the milestone of 100 career wins," said Coach Bentley. "Brandon worked hard and turned his senior season into a very positive year, and finished fifth with 143 career victories. Rob had potential to have a successful season; with his hard work, he didn't disappoint anyone."

Individual Awards

Senior Derek Marshall, with a 37-8 overall record and 102 career wins, and John Evashevski, with a record of 47- 9, shared the most valuable wrestler award.

Rob Robinson (42-12), Steffan Saffian (37-15), Tyler Oja (33- 21), and Andy Tamlyn (32-21) were named most improved wrestlers.

Coach's awards were presented to Mike McNeely (40-6), Brandon Garries (40-12), Eric Brown (18-10), and Michael Foster, who had seven victories.

The Saints won the districts with wins over Charlevoix and Rudyard, but fell to Iron Mountain in the regionals.

The 29 wrestlers combined for a 494-290 overall record. The team's five seniors, Derek Marshall, Brandon Garries, Nate Tamlyn, Shawn Cowell, and Michael Foster, won 395 matches during their careers.

"I am looking forward to next season with 24 wrestlers that totaled 378 wins returning," said Coach Bentley. "The potential is there to match or improve on this season."

Nine wrestlers are returning, all of who posted double figure wins for the Saints, include John Evashevski, Rob Robinson, Mike McNeely, Tyler Oja, Andy Tamlyn, Shawn Horn, Kaiden Shiemke, Alan Honeycutt, and Eric Brown.